Saints of the Living Dead
by I-am-the-Peel
Summary: After watching his best friend return from the dead, the Boss will face the biggest challenge of his life yet as he must rescue his Saints and travel across the globe to form the resistance against the undead horde, uncover an ancient conspiracy with Ultor & Dex, and discover the truth of his past in how he somehow had a child with Lin...Lots of gore, but rich Saints Row lore. R&R!
1. Prologue: Forgotten Memories

_It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change_

Charles Darwin

…

Spiders scurried across the train carriage in the stormy night as the frenzy of travellers entered the carriage, a lone middle-aged man wearing an amber hoodie and black cargo pants sat on his own, waiting for his family to join him. Through a life of crime and vice, he was beginning to believe a shocking universal truth; the path of a criminal was a lonely path, and family had no place within the crime. The young couple sat next to him, the Asian woman cuddling the baby boy close within her arms.

'How long do we have?' The bearded family friend asked, the baby began screeching and annoyed the group of teenagers across the carriage, who were sexting together on the same phone, their natural repulsiveness getting the better of them.

'The hacker you hired did a shittier job than I dreaded, we had to get out of the whole compound within half an hour, they'll be here any minute. Just remember, you've got to get the information out to the journalists about what Ultor are doing – they can't keep testing on people like us anymore, it's not right. ' Noah replied, his fists were covered in blood of different shades, and he had collar marks across his entire neck, which startled many of the passengers in the room. The wife's injuries were no less severe.

'Just, hold on for a minute Noah, we need to say goodbye to Jacob…Properly.' Lin pleaded, she was beginning to cry now as she kissed Jacob on his left cheek, those amber sun eyes glimmering back at her.

'You decided to name him Jacob? After his uncle?' The family friend queried, sincere delight touched upon his face as the family forgot their dramatic troubles and all of a sudden, the world around them stopped moving. Noah moved closer to his wife and began whispering to Jacob, hiding his face and then unveiling himself again, entertaining his little miracle.

'It just seemed right after everything he had done…' Lin answered, she smiled politely in memorial, and then looked down at the miracle, taking her right hand out of her tracksuit pockets and unveiling a silver locket tied to a necklace, that she tied around Jacob's neck.

'Jacob…You might never need us, never miss us, never remember us…But you will remember the love we've given you for the rest of your life….We've given you this chance to survive our mistakes, our doubts, our lives…' Noah began, the rivers of tears flooded their faces as the older man tried to hide his away, and Noah's voice began to break. 'Wherever you are, wherever you go…Whoever you are with, we will always be with you, in this locket, and we will always watch over you, just like you will always watch over us in our lockets around our necks…'

'Noah, come on, they'll be here any minute.' Lin pleaded, the train had stopped at the Saints Row station in Stilwater, and another frenzy of travellers hurried into the train. The older man rose up from his seat, clenched his fists, and tried to prepare himself for what would be the toughest moment in his life. He took the baby away from them, the little arms reaching out for the parents instantly as they cradled together on the chairs, sobbing loudly.

The two looked back at the couple, and paused for a brief moment, then turned, nodded, and disappeared off the train, hurrying quickly as fast as the older man's feet could carry him.

Entering the train after them were a squad of Ultor agents, dressed in black and orange armour, wielding carbine rifles and gas masks. The couple nodded at each other after enough minutes had passed, kissed passionately with all the love and tragedy that defined their lives, and arose face to face with the agents. The agents aimed their rifles directly at their faces, and Noah stood in front of his wife, reached into his pockets, and drew out the green frag grenade.

'Fuck you too.' Noah uttered as he wiped the tears away, and pulled off the pin of the grenade, the crackling noise ringing out across the whole train station. He threw the grenade at them and watched it bounce through the window of the train driver's office, then jumped onto the ground and shielded Lin with his coat, flying extraordinarily across the carriage. The bullets had done nothing compared to the exploding grenade that had torn the whole carriage apart, and send bodies flying in all directions.

The path of a criminal truly was a lonely path, and family had no place within the crime. If a family was ever created, then sacrifices always had to be made.


	2. Priority: Stilwater

**Sixteen years later…**

The Boss stood before his mirror in the Purgatory bedroom of Stilwater, his rage boiling over as he struggled to tie his royal purple tie together for Johnny's funeral. After failing to destroy the entire Syndicate, the people who had killed Johnny in the first place, and after feeling all the Boss wanted was for at least something to be perfect for once. This funeral was Johnny's legacy, and the Boss couldn't let an insignificant tie ruin his friend's memory. It was all he had left.

'I've seen you take on taller guys, stronger guys, and guys with more guns than you, but you can't even handle a tie kid?' Benjamin joked as he wandered into the room, hoping to try to keep the Boss as calm as possible for the troubling day ahead of him.

'Fuck off man, it isn't exactly one of the things I practise for a living is it?' The Boss snapped, he scrunched the tie into a ball and threw it onto the ground in despair, and simply glared at himself in the mirror. A grave silence surrounded the two for what felt like two years, was actually two minutes.

'I'm sorry playa, I'll show you how it's done.' Benjamin decided in a sorrowful tone, he picked up the tie where it had been dropped, turned the Boss to face him face to face, and began tying it. Benjamin gulped at seeing how bloodshot the Boss's eyes were, and after smelling the scotch in his breath, realised just how poorly he was managing to handle the anxiety.

The grave silence continued to engulf them until another news report came onto the radio on the cabinet next to the bed. Jane Valderama was reporting on how yet another gruesome string of murders had been uncovered this morning. For the past month, citizens were uncovering corpses of people with bite and claw marks across their entire bodies. What was most strange was that the bite and claw marks fitted the size of a human, but the intensity of the markings were inhuman. The woman and child that had been uncovered today had all of the cartilage in their noses suckered out, and the nose-bridge had been completely twisted by just a bite. Clearly, all was not well in Stilwater.

'You know, if Johnny was still alive, I would be asking him by now if all those murders were down to him and a bottle of Desperados every night.' The Boss awkwardly chuckled; Ben offered him a soft smirk in return, as every strand of hair on their bodies rose up in horror and fright at these deaths. 'Still, our old friend Troy Bradshaw should be catching the killer anytime soon. That reminds me, you checked in with the rest of our friends recently who'll be at the funeral?'

'Sure, Pierce and Oleg handled most of the invites, but I had a quick look at who were coming. Everyone who worked on Gangstas in Space is coming, everyone from Jenny Jaros to Josh Birk to even Keith David, can't wait to meet that old dog. Your old friends from Stilwater are coming too, like Tobias and that Mr Wong guy. Then there's a couple of personal friends to Johnny outside the gang, as well as the Saints themselves.' Benjamin answered, the Boss raised his eyebrows at the prospect of meeting Keith David in person for the first time and finally managed to realise some of his pent up anger.

'How are the Saints themselves doing? They holding up for today?' The Boss asked, he was finishing dressing himself as he tied his shoelaces and strapped his golden Rolex on, and took one final glance at himself in the mirror, firmly nodding at himself. He then straightened his tie and then felt his hand underneath the black shirt, checking to see that he still had his silver locket on whilst Benjamin stood in the doorway, waiting for him to finish. King had decided they had spent enough time waiting, and it was time to act out the funeral.

'Shaundi's an absolute nervous wreck, poor girl. Pierce is keeping her on a tight leash, making sure she doesn't snap at anyone. Viola called in an hour ago, she thought it was best if she didn't come because she knows that's what'll make Shaundi and a couple others snap. Kinzie's been pretty quiet, she isn't sure how to act in a funeral for someone she's never met, but aside from checking the internet on her phone every five minutes, she's alright. Heard Zimos is still in Rio de Jainero for the 2014 World Cup, but he's mostly there for the people, not for the actual football. And Angel…'

'Still haven't heard from him for half a year since all that shit with Killbane. Guess it's alright though as this wasn't down to him, and we did say goodbye on good terms. Damn, I guess I was hoping for more of a turn out.' The Boss muttered, he was beginning to feel he had dishonoured his best friend's legacy as he turned off the radio and walked with Benjamin out of the bedroom and towards the elevator.

'Oh there'll be a turnout alright; Gat had fans across the globe that all loved him so much and want to come. You want to know what half of his fanbase call themselves? The PussyGats…' Benjamin proudly hailed, the Boss laughed at what he had believed to be a joke, was a saddening truth for humanity. The elevator began moving up back to Earth, the negative emotions leaving them in Purgatory.

'Haha damn, and I guess there'll be a lot of tweets and Facebook posts about him today anyway from anyone and everyone…People today are really weird huh, things have changed since our time?' The Boss pondered, he began panting and exhilarating himself for the day ahead of him as he prepared to say goodbye to his best friend one final time, and his friendly advisor answered him.

'Our time hasn't even come close to finishing yet, but today isn't about us…Now let's go say goodbye to Johnny.' Benjamin concluded, he patted the younger leader on the back as the elevator doors opened, and a group of Saints stood outside the Headquarters by a black sedan, waiting to drive them to the Church. Benjamin followed behind the Boss into the limousine, always intent on watching over him wherever he went.

…

As the guests took their seats within the Saints Row Memorial Church, the elderly Priest took his place behind the pulpit, and inhaled a deep breath to speak out to the crowd. There must have been hundreds of people sat in that room; everyone from bikers and thugs who admired Johnny's skills, obsessive fans like Jimmy Torbitson whom were a nervous wreck, all of the cast from Gangstas in Space, and of course the Saints themselves, right at the front. Shaundi sat with her arms on her knees, clutching a bible as she repeatedly sniffled and maintained her composure as much as possible. It wouldn't last.

'We are gathered here today to honour the life of Johnny Gat, a man who has been looked upon as a murderer, a criminal…But most importantly, a wise older brother, a reliable friend, and most importantly, a brother in arms.' The priest began, many of the Saints' eyes darted at him when he began noting Gat's bad qualities, influencing him to swiftly change his attitude.

'Johnny touched each of our lives in different ways. His fans saw him as an indestructible legend of mankind. His fellow Saints saw him as a noble protector. His best friend saw him for what he was most of all; a troubled, brave man who went out of his own way to stand up for others. That is why it should be down to his best friend, to begin the words in his honour today'.

The Boss finally let go of Shaundi's hands as she latched onto Pierce next to her, and rose up from his seat to the pulpit, as the Priest avoided eye contact. He was absolutely horrified; it was very rare he ever organised a funeral over a well-known felon, let one a psychotic felon named Johnny Gat.

'Though he's never had the easiest of lives, Johnny was never one to just give up when the going got tough. Even when he had been shot at point-blank range in the knee by a shotgun, he was prepared to lunge for his attacker and buy me time to escape with my life. That's what I remember most about Johnny; he was always one reckless son of a bitch, but he was a caring son of a bitch. He'd always make sure everyone else's backs were covered before he checked on his own. In the end, that's what he died for; he died protecting those closest to him. That, is the noblest sacrifice I've ever had the privilege to benefit with, and I'll forever be grateful to him for it. Thank you Johnny, send Aisha my regards in Heaven, and I hope you keep watching my back up there.'

As soon as the Boss turned his face away from the open casket, he bravely faced the entire crowd before him, and was taken aback by the reaction he received. He was surrounded by hundreds of grieving people, all movingly touched by his words. Shaundi had finally begun crying as she burrowed her face into Pierce's arms and let the mascara run down her pale face, and the Saint rapper pulled his black fedora down to hide the pain in his eyes. Benjamin could not remove his hands away from his face as he kept brushing his beard in heartache, and began questioning as to how someone like Johnny could truly die. The Boss placed both hands firmly onto the pulpit.

'I'm not going to lie to you all, it is difficult having to stand here and say these words to you all here, so if you would prefer, you could each just stand up from your seats and say your peace there. Would anyone else like to say something?' The Boss reassured, he looked down towards Pierce and Shaundi in particular as he expected them to lead the speeches, but was secretly disappointed as they were too shell-shocked to clear their throats. The Boss began losing his faith, until one of his oldest friends rose up to help him.

'When I first met Johnny, he aimed a gun at my face and tried to kill me. First impressions didn't go well as Johnny got hurt because of me and my gang, and back then, I always thought he had it coming. I figured he was just another big-headed gangbanger just trying to make a name for himself. But once you got to know him, when you realised that he wasn't in the gang for the fun but instead to stand up for the people around him, that's when you realise he was more than just a gangbanger. By God, he has made a big name for himself. Johnny believed that people like him and I could have peace in chaotic lives like ours. He had faith…That's more than I ever had, and deep down, as long as you had that, that's what made you a good person, and he was always a good person, deep down.' Benjamin professed, he circled his face across the entire crowd and tried to be as comforting as possible, but once he looked across Johnny's pale corpse, resting peacefully across the room, he lost his breath, and had to sit down. He wanted to say as much as possible, but in the heat of the moment, he just couldn't control himself. Following him surprisingly was Keith David, who most people didn't think he had anything to do with Johnny.

'The day I met Johnny Gat on the set of Gangstas in Space, all I knew about him was that he could probably kill me in a matter of seconds with a ballpoint pen. But once you got to know him, there wasn't any reason to be afraid. He let you know where you stood.' Keith proudly recited, unlike Benjamin King, his charisma was powerful enough to sustain the heat of a funeral, and truthfully spoke all that he first thought about Johnny. Shaundi finally began to lift her face from Pierce's shoulders as she watched the people stand up for Johnny.

'Johnny and I've never exactly had the best of friendships; I was an undercover cop, and he was a criminal, I didn't have much hope in liking him. But when I began working for SPD, I learnt that you had to put both your life and trust into the hands of those around you, otherwise you could never do your job properly. That works with both cops and gangbangers. Johnny had my life in his hands dozens of times, sometimes he'd try to kill me, other times he'd save me. Because of all the stuff we both went through together, I should have realised Johnny would never have killed me. Friends look out for each other, and I hope he's still going to keep looking out for me.' Troy declared as he rose up in the seats, many of the Saint recruits glaring at him for being an apparent traitor to the gang. After the Boss gave a stern look, they all knew to back down and keep the peace. Troy was still family.

'For months on end when we retook Stilwater, I could not stand Johnny at all. He was loud, he always treated me as an idiot, and everyone always listened to him and not me. I was jealous of him. But after Aisha died, the state he was in…That he kept on wanting to die…That's when I stopped wanting to be him. His life wasn't all nice explosions and easy escapes; he had it hard. But he pulled through it all, and saved us all in the end where it mattered. I don't think I have in me to pull off everything he did. So thank you Johnny, this one's for you man.' Pierce truthfully revealed, both Shaundi and the Boss were taken aback at what he had revealed, and the latter felt guilt for always ignoring Pierce. The candles in the church began to burn lighter surprisingly, and Pierce took off his fedora and took a bow directly in front of Johnny's body. Now it was Shaundi's turn.

'When I first joined the Saints, I thought Johnny had it all figured out. He said people must be loyal to their friends and dangerous to their enemies. But when he and the Boss stopped me from going after the Sons of Samedi and…hurting someone, he had changed. He said enemies and egos are not as important as those you care about. I didn't want to hear it; I said that he just wanted to enjoy the kill for himself, and called him a hypocrite in a dozen different ways. That's when he told me; he didn't really enjoy killing. It was just something he had to do; it was instinct for him. Now, I think he truly did have it all figured out. And it hurts to know all that, because he's dead because of me. He died for us. We…We failed him.' Shaundi cried, as soon as she went off-track, the Boss and Pierce pulled her back to her seat as she began crying again even louder. As the priest began ending the memorial and recited passages from the bible, a tissue was offered to the Boss from a man behind him.

'Sorry for your loss, how you doing _playa_?' Dex sneered, the Boss almost jumped as he heard his voice and turned around to face him, his murky eyes following his every movement, like a hunter in wait. What felt like a brief few seconds between the face-off was actually a good two minutes. The Boss was speechless; every fibre of him told him to strangle him, but this wasn't about Dex. It was about Johnny.

'Now, if you would all please join me in the procession to the cemetery…' The priest asked, everyone rose up from their seats and began to leave the church, the Boss still watching over Dex.

**…**

Pierce, Benjamin, Troy, Oleg and Keith amongst many other men walked outside the church towards the hearse, carrying the casket, carrying their fallen friend. Shaundi began clutching at the hands of the Priest as she sobbed and begged for him to ensure that Johnny's passage to Heaven was not undisturbed, and Kinzie joined her to offer solace. Oleg briefly glanced over at the two mourning girls, but remained silent as he knew not the words to end their pain. If only he knew that no words truly existed.

The ravens at the top of the church's bell chirped simultaneously as they sensed the grieving and offered a natural sympathy across the wind. Only Keith's mind was not saddened enough to pay attention. The Boss stormed out of the church, grabbing Dex by the arm, brought him to the eastern side of the church where none of the visitors could see or hear them, and threw him against the wall, demanding answers from him.

'How dare you come here today! TODAY! Of all days! Look me in the eye, and tell me you didn't come here to dishonour his memory…To dishonour the friendship you two once had, before you killed it!' The Boss snapped, he was beginning to choke Dex painfully as the latter began panting and throwing his hands at the Boss's face to get him to stop.

'I'm here….T-To warn you.' Dex moaned, he was struggling to breathe let alone talk, and the Boss finally drew away his paws from his face. The skin on his knuckles and his fingernails had all been savagely chewed off in torment at the memorial; the Boss truly was not himself today. 'Ultor's been planning something these past couple of years, and something's happening – Today. They've been giving orders to all employees to 'evacuate' the city – Something's coming, and it's big.'

'Why should I believe you? Hell, why should I even listen to you?' The Boss demanded, he began pacing as he swung his clenched fists into the air in fury at not immediately cutting Dex's face off upon meeting him. As Dex rolled his eyes at the Boss's short temper, he began wondering what Julius even saw in him all those years ago.

'Because I know who you are – _Noah_.' Dex revealed, as soon as he uttered the Boss's true name, he stopped dead in his tracks and stared blankly into his jet black pupils, and fell into a deep trance as he fell to the ground, a sudden wave of memories all coming to the forefront of his brain. Dex realised what was happening, and believed it must have been like a thousand bird eggs in a nest all hatching at the same time. 'So you don't completely remember…Interesting. The Masako must have really gotten to you. Well I know who you are; I know Eric Gryphon used you as one of his pet guinea pigs to use for the stem cell research for Project: Legacy. I know just how much of your tiny little head he poked around in. It must have been brutal'.

'I do-don't…I don't know what you're talking about…Or what you're doing to me…But whatever it is…I will stop you all…' The Boss growled, he was now lying on the ground, his nostrils gushing with blood as his former comrade almost felt a sense of pity and concern for him. Dex began to dust himself off, checked the watch on his left wrist, and began walking out of the back entrance of the church, deciding his message had been delivered. Suddenly, the Boss could hear someone else running towards the other side of the church, and as he wiped away the blood, was startled by the look on Shaundi's face.

'Bo-Boss…He-He….' Shaundi whimpered, she struggled to speak as she trembled in fear, her mascara and runny lipstick smeared across her entire face. She looked horrified by fear, and seemed unresponsive to her bible falling onto the ground. 'It's J-Johnny…He's alive.'

Startled by her reaction and still reeling from the forgotten memories induced by Dex's manipulations, the Boss hurried past Shaundi to the front of the church, pushed past the ecstatic crowd and cameramen, and was astounded by what he saw. Pierce and Troy knelt down onto the ground at the half-torn casket as Johnny began spitting bubbling blood onto the ground, his entire face covered in blood. It appeared as if his eyeballs were shifting out of his eye-sockets, sweat trickled down past his ears like a floodplain flooding, blood dribbled out of his mouth like a half-turned sink tap, and the blood…Was everywhere.

'Johnny! Ho-How are you a-alive?' The Boss screamed, he lost every feeling across his body as he dragged his feet over to his revived friend, checking him over and trying to wipe away the blood. There must have been enough blood on his face to fill a bath. 'Someone call an ambulance! Call a fucking ambulance!'

The Boss rushed past the crowd as he tried to gain signal on his phone, with Benjamin and Shaundi following him, the latter afraid to face the man she had indirectly murdered. As Johnny began gathering himself on the ground and growled even louder, Jimmy Torbitson knelt down beside him and tried to offer him verbal support. His mouth began frothing with some kind of white chemical, as if he had rabies like a mad dog.

'Jo-Johnny? This is so fucking awe-some!' Jimmy squealed, he brought out his phone and prepared to take a selfie with the recently resurrected Saint, and as he began to take the picture, he was met by a savage crunch into his left ear by his idol.

Johnny threw himself onto the fan as he shrieked in fright and pain, and Johnny began suckling the skin tissue down through his throat, and the blood sprayed all over his face. The crowd all cried with horror and began running for their lives, whilst Johnny finished enjoying his meal. He began chewing on Jimmy's right ear as if it were a piece of beef jerky, and rammed his face down through his neck, tearing apart each layer of skin like a strip of bacon so he could delight himself in the organs and blood.

As the crowd hurried out of the area, Benjamin and Keith began heading for the black limousine, whilst Troy began hurrying as many people as possible and radioing in for backup. Benjamin joined the rest of the Saints, but looked back for where the Boss was. The Boss was trying to drag Shaundi by her feet to the limousine, the latter both phased at what she was seeing, and reluctant to leave her friend. She had killed him once, and she wasn't going to do it again. As soon as Johnny was done finishing Jimmy off, his puss-yellow snake-like tongue licked the remaining blood off his lips, anxious to dig in for another meal.

'Move your asses you two! We can come back for him later, we've got to regroup now!' Benjamin declared, the Boss had finally brought Shaundi over to the limousine and threw her into the back seats with Keith, and as the Boss and Benjamin sat in the front seats and closed the doors, they watched as both Johnny and Jimmy, the latter now zombified, now ran after them.

'Head to Purgatory, we don't have much time!' The Boss ordered, King was behind the driver's wheel and showed no mercy as he drove recklessly for once across the pavement, knocking down speed limit signs and fire hydrants. As Gat and Jimmy's chase grew less hopeful, they instead chose to flee into the rest of the Saints Row district, looking for whatever meal they could dig into. As Shaundi shuddered in the padded seats, Keith thought out loud to himself;

'What the fuck is going on?'

**…**

The Boss led the group of survivors towards the bar of Purgatory, heading towards the miniature TV perched upon the end of the counter, whilst Benjamin and Keith began pouring shots of whiskey to help them gather their thoughts on what had happened. The dead had rose again; how does anyone get to grips with that?

'Let's check the news, see if this is going on anywhere else across the country. As soon as we know what we're up against, we need to go and find our people.' The Boss decided, as Benjamin and Keith finished pouring their drinks and prepared to chime their glasses together, Shaundi cracked open a bottle of tequila and began chugging it all down.

Ben and Keith both stared in disbelief and couldn't decide what was more surprising; that she could handle all that alcohol, or that she chose tequila of all drinks to calm her nerves. She really was a strong, unique girl. As the Boss continued flickering through TV channels, he stopped upon finding FoxNews, and was surprised at watching a press conference with Senator Monica Hughes, and _Cyrus Temple_, the latter delivering another one of his obnoxious speeches.

'Citizens of America, a new threat is right in front of us; the dead have come to take our lives. But this great nation, can combat against this threat. We've fought the natives, the Nazis, and hell even squared off against the Soviets. We are involved in every major war of history, and we always win. Why? We have the power of unity and conviction. I urge each and every one of you, to stay safe in your homes, and let us take care of this threat. Thank you for your time.'

'Great, now the good ol' Commander Temple has come to save the day!' The Boss declared sarcastically, slightly annoyed at how an old adversary was now to become their saviour. Keith stood confused by his comment, causing the Boss to explain. 'He was hired a couple of months back by the Senator to take down the Saints – Didn't work out so well for him. He isn't exactly known to carry out his promises.'

'In other words, we're on our own?' Keith questioned alarmingly, Benjamin began pouring him another glass as he knew Keith was secretly a bag of nerves.

'Yeah…But first thing first, we need to find our people. At the funeral, I had a run in with Dex – he warned me that Ultor were planning something for today, and this must have been it. Once we're done getting everyone back together, we're going to need to find some leads on what's going on. I remember a woman – a scientist – named Tera Patrick, who came to me a few years back with dirt on Ultor, said they experimented on people to turn into slaves…That's a start.' The Boss decided, everyone was happily nodding along in agreement.

'Wait, you really want to go back out there? You saw what Johnny did to Torbitson – he chewed half his face off! We're not ready to face them!' Keith protested; Shaundi was using traces of the alcohol to wipe the mascara off her face as she prepared herself for another fight.

'So we just stay down here and hide? Let them take our friends? We've got no choice, we're going up there, and I need you all beside me.' The Boss pleaded, Benjamin had returned from the armoury section of the hideout next to the garage, and handed Shaundi a pump-action shotgun, whilst he himself handled a desert eagle, and then gave both the Boss and Keith an MP5 SMG.

'Don't worry kid; I've got your back. I'm ready for this shit.' Keith assured, he loaded the SMG and unfastened his tie and threw it onto the ground, and pretended to strike a pose. Shaundi held back her laughter.

'You three head on up, find your people. I'm going to check around here, make sure the perimeter's secure and we won't find any surprises. Then when everything's clear, I'll head the neighbourhood on my own, see if I can find any survivors or food I can bring back. Don't worry son, I'll be careful.' Ben added, the Boss was hesitant to let him wander off on his own in-case he was zombified, but as soon as he remembered who he was talking to, let it go by as the Saints needed more than people. King was always three moves ahead of the game.

'Alright people, it's not going to be easy, but let's lock and load.' The Boss ordered in a suave tone, they began heading up the stairs to the elevators as they braced themselves for the nightmarish challenge ahead of them, confident in rescuing their people, and saving Gat. Both Keith and Shaundi were unsure about what was ahead of them as they had their own respective fears, but alongside the Boss and Ben King, anything was possible.

**...**

**Just an author's note everyone, the next couple of chapters are going to get a lot more gory and adult-themed, so the rating will go up from T to M. Sadly, on the main page, mature-rated stories aren't shown on the page so if everyone could just follow this story so notifications and links to this story still come through, I'd really appreciate it thanks. I'm going to message one of the moderators, hopefully try to change it so all stories appear on the main.**


	3. Dossier: Pierce Washington

**Just a warning; a lot of gore in this chapter, not just related to the zombie apocalypse. If this site had an MA rating, I'd definitely be giving it one.**

**...**

Thunder echoed in the stalking storm following the Saints outside the Stilwater Caverns Gift Shop, the sounds of the birds chirping during the funeral now a forgotten sympathy. Keith began muttering curse words under the soggy weather, as he strutted his leather shoes through the damp mud, his anger over the situation still boiling. The Boss and Shaundi stood at both sides of the entrance to the gift shop, briefly glancing inside to ensure that they were not walking into an ambush.

'Shaundi, are you sure Pierce is definitely going to be in here? This doesn't seem to be the usual type of gang hideout.' Keith questioned, the rain was now ruining his black tuxedo and the mud was trailing up his trousers, his patience now wearing thin. The Boss paid no attention to the state of his own clothing; there were more pressing matters at hand.

'Right before we left the Church, I got a text from Pierce saying a bunch of Brotherhood wannabes got the jump on him and a couple of other Saints. They're trying to use this whole damn apocalypse as a way to bring back the Brotherhood – they think they're the solution.' Shaundi informed, Keith finally joined the others outside the front entrance and drew out his SMG, briefly looking out towards the distant ocean to the east of the three. He thought Stilwater was now the worse place to be caught up in during the apocalypse; the aggressive waves proved him wrong.

'I did a little digging into getting to know the main faces of the Saints while I was shooting Gangstas in Space – are you sure you really want to rescue Pierce? I mean, you spent half your time with him either ignoring him or using him as the end of a joke.' Keith revealed, the Boss tried to offer as much face to face acknowledgement to him as possible, but he was still trying to assess an escape plan.

'Yeah, but it was always in good fun…' The Boss unwittingly replied, he was trying to think of a swift honest reply to Keith, however quickly realised how harsh his comment had seemed with Pierce's respect. Keith chuckled for a brief few minutes at the reality of being a Saint.

'Jesus, you're a terrible person, but now I'm starting to figure out how you all get along. All right, enough chit-chat, enough stalling, let's just get in there, find Pierce and move on out.' Keith laughed, the Boss felt a little uneasy around him as Keith was a strong observer and always thought too much, and was taken aback by Keith trying to give him orders. Shaundi remained silent, still remembering the torment of Johnny's rampage.

With brute force, the Boss then kicked the glass door down and rushed into the room wavering his MP5 around, pretending to utter a roar as he charged towards the stairway. Shockingly however, he was met with dozens of gun barrels aimed directly at his head by a bunch of leather-clad tattooed young men, and began cursing under his breath. The trio then dropped their guns onto the floor and then held up their hands in the air, the smell of outdated candy and burning gift-shop hats lingering in the air.

'Keith…We've got to work on your patience when we get back.' The Boss sarcastically moaned, the goons began pushing the trio down the stairs past all the scaffolding in the gift shop, Keith's silence signalling an acknowledged apology for landing the trio into trouble on their first mission.

_As the face of the Saints, Pierce Washington was always comfortable in the public's eye. Some may think he's gone soft because of this, but he's always been loyal to the crew no matter what had to get down. If we're going to survive the Zombie Apocalypse, I need him right by my side._

**…**

The Boss withered in pain as he tried to regain consciousness, he struggled to identify the difference between the darkness of closing his eyes, and the blackened void of the damp cavern. As he tried to speak, he found himself drinking the cold water that was entrapping him; he realised he and Pierce were imprisoned in a bamboo wooden cage, left to rot and drown in the water. The cavern was incredibly dark, but the Boss could see the light shades of purple in Pierce's tie next to him, and what looked like blood dripping down from his face into the water. As his second in command turned to him, he was horrified by the scars inflicted on his face, but knew he couldn't let on as to how traumatic it was. Pierce was strong, but he was no Johnny Gat.

'Well Pierce, I would've asked you if you got up on the wrong side of bed this morning, but I can see you've pissed yourself in the bath tonight.' The Boss teased, Pierce began trying to what sounded like whimpering, was his attempt at laughing. The water remained still with a blueish-green colour despite the amount of blood was pouring into it off Pierce's face.

'Hey, the water only started getting warm when you came in.' Pierce retorted, he was clinging on to the wooden rods that made up the cage, not at all comfortable with water, let alone floating in a pit. The Boss almost cringed as he began to feel leeches and wood-insects crawl down the cage and around his shoulders. He shuddered at the hideous conditions he was in. 'Thanks for coming Boss, I knew you wouldn't forget about me, not this time.'

'I came in here with Shaundi and Keith David, do you have any idea where they'll have been sent?' The Boss wondered, as Pierce tried to float over in the swampy water, a light flickered from across the other side of the cavern, and a rope attached to the cage began to pull the two Saints towards the shore. Now the Boss could examine all of the injuries on Pierce's face; his lips were purple and swollen, he had received a blackened eye and a lot of his hair had been shaved off. At least, that's what the Boss assumed, either that or Pierce really did have a good reason to wear a hat all the time. The cage was lifted out of the water, and the Boss met the new leader of the Brotherhood.

'Allow me to introduce myself; name's Vido, I'm a big fan of some of your work.' Vido revealed, he spoke with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth above the lip-piercings, and he was a fairly small, yet muscular man. The Boss began coughing at the smoke rudely blown into his face. 'Y'see, half of me wants to shake your hand because you're a legend around Stilwater, and killing Maero gave me an opportunity, but the other half…'

'Sorry, is this the part where I start wetting myself and beg you to spare us? Trust me, if I had my way, it would be more than just this water making you wetting yourself.' The Boss sneered, he wasn't in the mood to hear the pitiful backstory of a bigshot-wannabe goon, and what was almost civility between the two failures of society, was now mutual hostility. Pierce floated with a smirk on his face, briefly forgetting the dozens of insects surrounding him.

'Guess it might not be so hard then to watch you die…Whether you like it or not, the Brotherhood is rising again, but given the circumstances of the dead rising again…We can only take the best. But with you here today, 'best' means anyone who can kill you.' Vido barked, his golden teeth were now sparkling in the firelight as he spat on the ground near the Boss, and folded his arms to show off his tribal tattoos and steroid-induced muscles. The boy was a lightweight.

'I get to go on a murder spree on idiots for free – no cops to break it up? That's supposed to be your form of your torture? Kid, you're not living up to your last leader here.' The Boss teased, he truly couldn't contain his delight and amusement even if he didn't want to, pretending to splash water at the leader, who was now kneeling down from the slightly elevated hill to talk down to him.

'That's where you're wrong…The only idiot you're going to be killing is your buddy over there. That's the way it works – that sackless little shit killed four of my guys when he got here, and he's been winning all the matches in the pit since. I want him dead, and I know you've got it in you to take 'em out. 'Course, if you don't, well then he'll have to kill you. Either way, I get a good laugh out of you two knocking each other's brains out.' Vido sadistically revealed, he clicked his fingers for one of the goons to take out his cigarette, replace it with another, and light it. As the Boss coughed again at the smoke, he struggled to determine whether Vido was enjoying the smoking, or enjoying torturing the Boss.

'Either way, one of us gets to live and leave you to drown in one of this fucking torture treehouses. I was only here to save my friend but now, I think I'm taking you down too.' The Boss concluded, he remained unfazed by Vido's threats and calmly continued to insult his plan, his fists squeezing one of the leeches into a miniature ball, and flicked it into one of the goon's eyes. Vido's eyes swifted back and forth at everything that was happening before him.

'Ohoho, aren't you scary!' Vido jested, he pulled the Boss closer towards him by his neck and rubbed the bud of his cigarette through the Boss's right earhole, his screams echoing throughout the entire cavern. Pierce began trying to pull at the walls of the cage, until the goons threatened him with their AK-47s, the face of the Saints reluctantly deciding to back down. As soon as Vido was finished, one of the goons threw half of a loaf of bread into the water, slightly mouldy. 'Since I'm such a fair person, you two need to keep ya' strength up…'

The small loaf of bread drifted in the dank watery pit between the two Saints, their eyes faintly glaring into each other, questioning whether to give in to their survival instincts or to hang on to their friendship. As the goons began to leave and headed into the otherside of the cavern, the Boss made a dive for the loaf of bread. Pierce began to gulp with desperation and disappointment as he assumed the Boss was saving it all for himself, until he saw his leader tear off one small mouldy chunk for himself, and handed the remainder of the loaf all to Pierce. As the two gave each other a grateful nod, another small light drew closer to the Saints; as the Boss tried to make out who it was, he only saw a small lone figure, no smaller than Vido. Upon recognising his face, the Boss fell into disappointment.

'Donnie…Surprised you're still alive after all the times I used you to get one over Maero…Sorry about trying to break your back with a wooden chair that one time.' The Boss sarcastically observed, Donnie was about to offer him a can of Saints Flow, however as soon as the hostilities rose, held back the pity. Pierce began swimming towards the front of the cage, and slightly flailing too.

'Fuck you, you psychopath. I'm not here to save you; I just want information. After I heard Johnny…Came back, I wondered if Lin also…Came back.' Donnie bewildered, he sat on the edge of the slightly elevated terrain pretending to write his and Lin's name into the water with the grizzled end of his black boot, Pierce floating in the background, juvenilely pretending to vomit at Donnie's words of love.

'Even if she did come back, it wouldn't be the same…' The Boss sighed, Donnie was disheartened at what he heard, but nodded in agreement as he still missed the woman who had stolen his heart all those years ago. Pierce began chewing parts of the bread apart with his teeth, then began spluttering at how soggy and tasteless it was; he tried to gargle it all in his mouth and began punching the bars of the cage to unleash his frustration at the disgusting taste, whilst the Boss continued observing Donnie. 'Listen Donnie, you've been on the wrong end of the stick with us twice before, and people have died over it. With the Rollerz, Lin died and you got caught up in it all. With the Brotherhood, Carlos died and you got caught up in it all again. If we keep going on like this, a lot of people are going to die and it's going to eat away at you for more years. Let us out of this cage and we can give you protection; trustful protection.'

Donnie began pacing back and forth in the perpetuated darkness of the dank cave, kicking the rocks back and forth in front of him as he weighed up his odds, whilst Pierce began sighing in boredom. 'No…I'm sorry, I-It's just too late for that. Too much has been lost. I can't betray the Brotherhood again; as Vido says, you're either one of us, or one of them. "Them" being the walking dead.' Donnie replied, as the Boss hung his head in dismay, Donnie began heading through the cavern tunnels, his footsteps gradually becoming a distant sound.

'You're one of us Donnie! Always have been – You're a Saint Goddamnit – Saints look out for each other!' The Boss roared, as he began shaking the bars of the cage viciously, the tide of the water began to rise, and Pierce and the Boss clung to the roof of the cage, gasping for air badly. 'Pi-Pierce…Take a long breath…Just hold on.'

'He-Hey, if we die here…Anything else you want to get off your chest?' Pierce asked, he began swimming towards the surface, trying to move away from the rampaging tide of the underground water rising to the surface, whilst the Boss tried to breathe as much as possible and rubbed his eyes furiously to get rid of the dirty water. Where were Shaundi and Keith when he needed them most?

'Pierce, I lo-love you to bits, but you've got to stop being so negative…Aside from needing a change of underwear, I don't have anything else to say or get off my chest!' The Boss cried as he struggled for oxygen, his shirt and tie were tied on so tightly to his neck that he was struggling even more than Pierce to breathe, influencing his honourable lieutenant to try to holster him higher up in the cage, at the expense of having to be lowered into the bottom of the pit, sending himself into certain death of drowning. 'Pierce! Pierce Goddamnit, don't be a hero!'

The Boss began trying to kick Pierce off his feet and flailed in the water death-trap like a fish being hooked by a fisherman. As Pierce struggled to hold his breath, he began drifting up to the top of the cage, his eyes rolling downwards and his mouth wide open to drink the water and digest the disease-ridden insects. The Boss began moaning in desperation even louder as he wrapped his arms around the bars of one side of the cage, whilst kicking the bars of the other side, telling himself he was making progress. As he thrashed his foot every time, he slowly began to lose consciousness, and as he finally lost his breath and opened his mouth, he slowly began floating in the cage, gazing upon how close the surface of the water was in the cavern. He watched his tie and suit jacket float almost elegantly, his silver locket still clinging to his pale-ridden neck.

**…**

The Boss gradually regained his consciousness after a bunch of Brotherhood goons threw him into what he quickly discovered to be a mud-pit. As he wiped away the mud out of his eyes and mouth, he heard the chanting of an angry mob declaring 'One of us – One of them' over and over, and straightened his suit and tie in slight disarray, still remaining covered in mud. In front of him was a gigantic makeshift fortress that resembled a hobo camp; an old dark red feathery chair sat atop a pile of wood and thrown-out rubbish where Vido sat, accompanied by two goons on each side of his chair armed with AK-47s, watching over the entire gathering crowd. As the Boss turned around to see what was facing him, he was surprised to find Pierce, almost covered in mud, and two wooden spears in the centre of the makeshift arena.

'Listen up you little cockroaches! I've been hearing that some of you aren't at all 'appy about how I'm runnin' things around 'ere…That you don't think I'm fit enough to run the Brotherhood…Well, I'll show you how fit I really am, by showing whose boss over the victor of the biggest fight of the night! The Butcherer of Stilwater – versus the face of the Saints – One shall become one of us, and the other…Well, he'll be off to meet Maero in my personal chambers over there.' Vido proudly declared, he sported a long black trench-coat that covered the majority of his small body along with brown cargo pants, and every time someone tried to chant, he stomped his little feet on the wood below him. The Boss and Pierce both gave each other a fist-bump before picking up the spears.

'So…This is how it ends huh? Well, it's been a good ride, don't let me end up like Carlos, just do it quick and clean.' Pierce appealed, the two Saints began circling each other as they wavered the bloodied spears, contemplating how exactly they were going to escape from the situation before them. One of the goons began firing his rifle into the air chaotically to warn the two Saints to commence fighting, whilst Vido began stomping his feet even more, like an unsatisfied toddler.

'Don't hold back Pierce, prove Keith wrong and show that you're not a lightweight…' The Boss taunted, hoping to indirectly anger his friend so that the Boss wouldn't have to kill him. Saints may die under the Boss's leadership, but they would never die by his hands. That's what made a strong gang leader, a lesson Vido would never understand.

The two Saints wielded their spears in a defensive stance, charging towards each other and repeatedly blocking each other from any potential strike. Vido kept on leaning back and forward in his feathery chair, chuckling, whilst the Brotherhood goons continued chanting, louder and louder. Pierce attempted a low sweep against the Boss's ankles with the spear, however the Boss jumped over it into the air like a brazen ninja, and kicked him in the jaw with the heel of his right loafer. As Pierce fell to the ground, his hands covering the injury whilst moaning in pain, the Boss came to his senses, dropped the spear, and offered him a reaching hand to help him up.

'No! You don't show mercy to ya' enemies! Show weakness, and it weakens us all – That's the Brotherhood code! Finish 'em off while you've still got the chance before I get trigger happy!' Vido snapped, he viciously snatched the AK-47 away from one of the goons next to him and fired an entire clip crazily into the air, dust from the ceiling of the caverns trickling down onto the arena.

As the Boss stood psychologically fighting himself, Pierce took his chance and rammed the bottom end of the spear upon the Boss's nose, fracturing it enough to cause it to bleed, and as the chanting grew louder, and the goose-bumps upon his dampened skin flickered alarmingly, Pierce sobbingly gouged the Boss's left knee with the spear, driving it so powerfully through the cartilage of the knee that it dug into the ground underneath the Boss. He wailed, like an injured animal, hunted by an unknowing and merciless assailant, whilst Vido cackled, and began clapping ecstatically. Pierce began panting, as if he were to suffer a panic attack, and looked down at his shabby fists, the very tools that helped him almost murder his leader, his best friend. He fell to the ground, sobbing and excruciatingly chomping his lower lip, sickened by his actions.

'Yes! He did it – I didn't think he had it in 'em! Well done Pierce…You're one of us, and he's, well, he's gonna be one of them. I hope you don't mind, but I've got a reputation to protect, so I'll be finishing him off for you mate.' Vido declared, he skipped down from his podium and entered the arena, and repeatedly patted Pierce's back with his stubby little hands, the Saint still oblivious to the rest of the world. The Boss lay wheezing, clawing at the grit on the ground to try to distract himself from the pain, not wanting to scream loudly anymore to upset his colleague.

'Come on then, mister "Butcherer of Stilwater"! Any last words before I put you down like the maniac you are?'

'Yeah…You always acted like you had bigger balls than a brain; time to fix that.' The Boss hissed, reaching for the spear, and heaved it out of his knee, dragging it out from the slimy muscle tissues of his knee and stamped it straight in-between Vido's knees in his crotch, the smaller man crying with the demise of his manhood, Pierce at how his lack of verbal response and his lip movement reminded him of a duck-face. The crowd of Brotherhood goons stood in fright and astonishment, time frozen around them as they struggled to determine what to do next.

Baam!

The Brotherhood goons erected upon the podium gusted down into the arena head-first, the surface of their eyes peeled away with the sharp friction of the bullet, as if someone had literally taken a cheese-grater to their eyes. The crowd of Brotherhood wannabes all cowered and splintered away into the darkened tunnels of the caverns, as Shaundi, Keith, and even Donnie, made their presence known to the arena fighters.

Donnie stood with the holster of his carbine rifle, still smoking and reeling, from yet another gang betrayal. Pierce lept for the Boss's knees, took off his swamped fedora, and began putting pressure onto the wound. As soon as she saw the calamity, Shaundi jumped down from the balcony and began assisting Pierce, whilst Keith smiled at the trio, sensing the powerful bonds of friendship between them, and decided they were exactly the types of people he wanted to surround himself with in the apocalypse.

'So…Vido's chambers are just down there, behind his podium on the balcony…You really think Zombie Maero's in there?' Donnie bewildered, pointing towards the small cove behind Vido's feathery chair, which piqued Keith's curiosity enough for him to lead Donnie into the secretive dungeon, whilst the trio of Saints looked down onto Vido's body, still wondering what to do with him.

'You stabbed him in the balls…Damn, that's brutal, even by my standards.' Shaundi echoed, Vido was still weeping as the blood leeched out of his crotch, along with a mustard line of urine, and a pool of milky semen, that almost made Pierce gargle with vomit. If he hadn't been tortured by this man, or wasn't standing dripping of water with leeches and insects sucking away at him, he may have actually felt pity.

'No one tries to hurt my friends. No one. So…What're we going to do with him then?' The Boss concluded in a murky tone, Pierce and Shaundi both looked upon him with honour and bafflement, however the leader was unresponsive to their beliefs on what to do with Vido, the young cockney-accented man trying to reach for the spear in vain, as every time he tried to move his body, the spear would only dig in further through the tendon and flesh of the crotch. 'I say we leave him here. Hell, I'll be impressed if he ever made out of here…But he could only do that if he had the balls to do it, but he don't have them anymore, does he?'

'Let's just find Donnie and Keith and get outta here, I have seen enough of this tourist trap to make a scrapbook on our "holiday" here.' Pierce suggested, as the Saints began walking past the body, Vido began clinging on to Pierce's feet, begging him to put him out of his misery, until the Boss charged towards him and savagely stomped down on his fingers, digging his foot deeper into the knuckles of his hand until he could hear the crunching noise he desperately loved to hear. Their business, was over.

**…**

The Boss rested his left leg upon the catwalk of the stripper pole in front of him, his head soothing and his headache easing as his head drifted away on the cosy white sofa, and clutched a glass of scotch in his left hand. He sat shirtless and wearing only a new pair of light blue denim jeans, as his suit was beyond wearable after the torture of the water cage. Pierce and Shaundi were in the Boss's bedroom, trying to pick through some of his clothes that Pierce could wear and find suitable. The Boss and Pierce truly had different tastes in clothing, and the Boss knew Pierce would be up there for hours searching through his wardrobe. Benjamin King, Donnie and Keith came out of the armory, began pouring a few glasses of scotch, and joined the Boss by the stripper pole.

'I just want to say, thanks again for letting me be part of the crew, after all the crap I've done to you.' Donnie expressed, he unbuttoned the top half of his black racing-shirt as Benjamin handed him a glass, and Keith pushed himself backwards in the elegant recliner chair. The Boss smiled at his nobility.

'You earned it after you broke Shaundi and Keith out of their cages, and saved all of us by ending the Brotherhood once and for all. Thank God you did, otherwise we'd all be dead by now. I'd have a little cockney midget stomping on my face, Shaundi and Keith would have drowned, and Pierce…Well, he might have made it out, the lucky bastard.' The Boss chuckled, he chimed his glass with the other three's glasses, toasted to their success, and gurgled the scotch down, letting the fine liquor splash around the inside of his mouth. It tasted like victory.

'That reminds me, Pierce had a few interesting things to say about what happened to you two after we got ambushed…Were you two really in a cage, alone together?' Keith queried as Donnie began laughing awkwardly, whilst Benjamin rolled his eyes and then looked down onto the Boss, questioning his sexuality. The lights of Purgatory began flickering on and off as the city began losing access to the electrical grid, however even that and the apocalypse couldn't stop the joyous mood going.

'Things were…Complicated. And that reminds me Keith, you and I need to talk about your patience skills since you almost got us all shot at; if I didn't have a half broken leg resting next to a stripper pole, I'd consider trying to kick you with it!' The Boss sniggered, Donnie and Benjamin began oohing as the Boss made a subtle threat, whilst Keith finished his drink and began patting onto the Boss's leg, pretending to try to wrestle it.

'Well, I figure now looking back that if you can walk away after being stabbed in the leg by a spear, you could survive a few gunshots. Besides, it ain't me you gotta worry about; Pierce has taken a lot away from the time you two had together in the cage. According to him, you said you soiled yourself back there in the water…He said the next chance he gets, he's going to buy you some adult-sized diapers, since he's only thinking of your wellbeing.' Keith revealed, he propped his feet up on the other side of the catwalk as he rested his arms on the recliner, and only now did Donnie and Benjamin notice the flickering of the nights, remembering that they were still living under a zombie apocalypse.

'That reminds me as well guys…When Keith and I went into Vido's Chambers in the caverns, we discovered a lot of interesting stuff. We expected to find Maero, undead and chained to the wall, but he wasn't even there…Vido just made the whole thing up to scare people, he never had anything else other than his mouth to prove himself. But we found a laptop and a couple of blueprints on a table, all with Ultor's insignia at the top. We took them both and put them in the armory.' Donnie explained, the surprise of an alliance between Ultor and the Brotherhood was enough for the Boss to drag his leg off the catwalk and begin walking towards the armory, until he almost toppled over until Benjamin helped him back up. The Boss surrendered back to his seat, and another glass of scotch.

'So Ultor's been feeding intel to the Brotherhood…Why them? If they're planning on going up against the Saints, we've got a lot of more formidable enemies to go up against. What's so special about the Brotherhood?' The Boss questioned, he began tapping his fingers on the arm of the sofa restlessly trying to figure out his next step, until Donnie and Keith took their leave and headed for the Wards area of the hideout, to bunk up for a few hours.

'When the time comes, we'll find out. Till then son, get some shut-eye, you can go out and find the rest of your people after the leg heals.' Benjamin instructed, he took away the glasses and placed them back at the bar, straightened the Boss up against the sofa to prepare him for rest as the lights finally flickered on for the final time, and the Boss gazed up towards him, slightly tipsy at all the alcohol.

'Gee, I could get used to having the dad I never had putting me to bed…Night Ben.' The Boss joked, before psychologically free-falling into a deep slumber, whilst Benjamin smirked at his words, then gazed deep into thought at the younger gang-leader, nodded, and finally took his leave, heading up to the office upstairs to do some final research, before taking his sleep. The Saints may have answered and relied upon the Boss, but it was the Boss who answered and relied upon Benjamin King.

**...**

**Sorry for the delay everyone! I've been collecting my thoughts and improving the rough outline to this story. The next two chapters may feel slightly dull, but trust me, everything will come together after the Dossier chapters. Keep re-reading this chapter and the next two for small red-herrings that'll later help explain the causes of, and the masterminds of, the Living Dead. Have a suggestion for how the story should go in later chapters, or a personal critique? Leave a review below or drop a private message, I'd love to have everyone's thoughts on where this story goes next!**


	4. Loyalty: Saints

**Finally got around to updating this story again; the chapters are a bit shorter, more focus on dialogue over detail that most people don't care for, and I decided to just scrap the dossier fillers idea I had so I can get back to advancing the main plot. The Saints are reunited, but at a grave cost...**

* * *

The Boss was the first to awaken the following morning, his feet resting upon his desk in the office, and his eyes fixated on the silver locket tied around his neck, observing the different shades of light that was reflected onto it from the ceiling. The room was desolate and reeked of cloaked death; the stripper poles were now gathering dust, the unfed fish in the fish tank were all floating to the surface of the still water, and the carpet was covered with the muddy footprints of the Saints who had survived. With all the questions of survival for the rest of his friends, and questioning who he himself is, the Boss was more on edge than ever.

The desolation quickly dispersed as the elevator down the corridor began to chime, waking up the rest of the Saints across Purgatory, and they all rushed with frenzy to face whoever came for them. Could the undead actually learn how to use an elevator? How could the Boss have let them get the jump on the Saints? Donnie stood at the back, cowering in fear as he held his M1911, whilst Benjamin led the charge alongside the Boss, confident in taking out the threat. As soon as the elevator doors finally opened, the Saints were amazed to find they were not actually facing the dead; they were simply facing the _dying_.

'I need help here! We're not one of them – Help us damnit!' Troy begged, he screeched to the top of his voice as two fellow officers helped him out of the elevator and into the corridor, a long streak of blood dripping out of Troy's upper torso. The Boss instantly dropped his pistol at the sight of his dying friend, and rushed to his aid.

'What the fuck happened – Is this a stab wound? Who the fuck stabbed you?' The Boss frantically demanded to know, Pierce and Keith rushed into the Boss's bedroom to use his first aid-kit, whilst Shaundi and Benjamin applied pressure to the wound alongside the Boss, Donnie still wavering his weapon in fear.

'As soon as Johnny…Came back, w-we went straight to the Station, loaded up as much guns as possible, and started doing strafing runs across the city, trying to save as many as we could and get as much food as possible. Then, we think we saw Dex, and some woman he was with, heading to the Philippes Building. My anger got the better of me, and I fired a bullet straight at him. That assassin bitch, drew out a fucking sword, deflected the bullet, then killed five of my men and slashed me good. I got lucky – Dex called a ceasefire, and they ran off. Ah fuck…' Troy sighed, he began panting with every word but was determined to finish his revelation. Pierce and Keith returned to the group, and offered Troy two painkiller tablets to digest, whilst they made the gruelling job of stitching him back up. Shaundi's glare at him was enough for Donnie to finally withdraw his weapon.

'He's gone to get high ground, and maybe they've got something hidden there. Something that could have caused Johnny to come back to life, it makes perfect sense. He's hurt my crew and pissed me off for too long – When we've patched you up, we're going to head to that eye-sore of a tower, and blow it to kingdom-fucking-come.' The Boss hissed, Shaundi wasn't sure whether to smirk at his vengeful idea, or be frightened at his extremism. Benjamin shook his head in disbelief, whilst Pierce and Keith almost finished stitching Troy back up. His two police officers stood by the two, shuddering and bracing themselves for heading back out there.

'You do that, and there'll be a lot of people getting caught up in an explosion that big….I'm going back out there, I'll save as many as I can, bring 'em back here, this place seems like a good place to really hide out from everything up there.' Troy decided, he was still struggling to breath, and whilst the blood was no longer pouring out of his half-torn stomach, it was still trickling out through the small tunnels of sheared tissue that hadn't been stitched up properly. Benjamin smiled at his heroism, whilst the Boss interrupted him in disagreement.

'Troy, you've tried that already and you got stabbed for it; when we blow that tower, it's gonna fall and you'll get caught in all the debris. Stay down here, and tr-' The Boss began, he looked to every Saint behind him as they all loaded their guns and prepared to head out, however Troy rose up and blocked the Boss away from the elevator, insistent on not giving up.

'I'm not staying down here whilst innocent people die! I'm the Chief of Police – I don't know if you think that much about your title, but being Chief of Police means it's my duty to protect and serve the people of this city! That's what I'm gonna do! If I die – I die!' Troy barked, he drew out his Desert Eagle from his blood-stained pants pocket as did his officers, and they all began heading out to the elevator. 'Ramirez! – Vasquez! – If anything happens, remember to come back to this Hideout, we'll use it as a bunker!'

As the two ill-experienced officers aided their fallen Chief off the ground much to the Boss's dismay, they began heading for the elevator. However, just before Troy pressed the button on the elevator to open its doors, the gateway to the rest of the world left the Purgatory, signalling someone else wanted to join the Saints where they were. The Boss quickly rallied around for all of the Saints to take cover behind the doorways and the corridor's corners, trying to mask his own panic at who exactly would be joining them.

'Whoever's coming – they must have good reasons for wanting to be here!' Keith insisted, even in the panic of the cramped corridor, he was still looking for logical answers.

'Even if it's more people wanting help, we've got hardly any damn food and water for ourselves, let alone the rest of the city!' Shaundi moaned, drawing out her SMG as soon as the two unexceptional Policemen hurried behind her with their commanding chief slouched against the wall, loading his pistol.

As the Boss gave a calm collected nod to Benjamin, the elevator doors opened, and a squad of four men heavily armed with carbine rifles and wearing white and orange armour began opening fire, rapidly firing across the entire hallway. The Saints began retreating further down into Purgatory, following the Boss into his office to hide behind his desk. As the Boss and Shaundi began shouting and belaying orders amongst the others whilst Pierce gave the officers cover, the Saints were able to gather a full look at their attackers; they wore extremely protective armour and were wearing gasmasks.

Within seconds, the Boss's face dropped as he saw them fling tear gas grenades across the entire underground hotel, and they began to cackle in anguish. Donnie was the first to fall to the plush carpet, followed by Pierce, and in a matter of seconds, the remainder of the Saints. The STAG Commandos began to beat the Boss with the ends of their rifles to force him to stop holding his breath and accept his fate; he fought valiantly, and fell to the ground with his honour intact.

The Boss gazed upon the fishtank as he saw the unfed fish flopping to the tips of the water, crying out for help and the cruelty of their fates. The symbolism was uncanny.

**…**

'Boss! Boss! Damnit, wake up man!' Pierce pleaded, he was shaking the Boss back and forth from his shoulders as his leader awoke, his eyes blurry and his stomach covered in violet bruises. He was lucky his friends could not see the true state he was in. The Boss looked around quickly, and found himself to be in some sort of shuttle bay.

'Where are we? A plane?' The Boss bewildered, he found himself slouched against the walls of a shuttle bay with his hands tied by ropes, and surrounded by the rest of his Saints. STAG Commandos patrolled across the upper catwalk that lead up to the Engineering Bay, their fingers firmly tucked upon the triggers of their rifles, all pointed at the Saints. The Boss could hear Troy struggling to breath, and saw him stretched across the ground by an APC, being attended to by a STAG commando.

'When we all brought you here, he was in a much worse state than he already is. I've managed to stop most of the bleeding in the abdomen, but unless I'm able to stitch him up or clean the wound properly, we're just delaying the inevitable here.' The Commando revealed, he had taken his helmet off to reveal an incredibly young black man with short jet-black hair slicked back, and for a split second, his eyes offered a touch of sympathy for the Saints' situation.

'Why are you all doing this? You should be out there saving survivors!' Viola demanded, the Boss was surprised to hear her empowering voice and leaned forward to see the entire rest of surviving Saint Lieutenants all tied up against the walls of the shuttle bay. Her lips were as scarlet red as ever and her eye-shadow perfectly administered against her sultry eyes, but the Boss also noticed that the glass shards in her purple sunglasses had been shot off, and her right knee had been grazed. The Boss was not amused by this.

'Our orders are clear and concise as to what we need to do here; Senator Hughes needs us all to round up all those who are contaminated by the outbreak for scientific studies, that is our primary objective. Rescuing any survivors is an additional task that we will look into once our main objective is complete.' The STAG Commando answered, he reached into his pants pockets and drew out a syringe and injected Troy with some sort of chemical. The Boss's temper flared, until he realised it was just a sedative.

'The Senator is using STAG as her own personal cleanup crew. This is all her doing, a government failure that the working classes must pay for. Trust me, I've been in situations like this before.' Oleg warned, the gigantic Russian was instead tied with metal chains to both of his arms rather than rope to suit his stature and superior physical strength, his beady pale eyes glaring down at the STAG commando in front of him. Everyone in the room, even the dying Troy, fell silent upon his terrifying voice.

'Then we've got to fend for ourselves and save them! You've got a dying man in front of you, he needs proper medical attention – Now!' Keith sneered, as soon as he got up on his feet and hoppled over to the Commando next to Troy, the guards upon the catwalk aimed their rifles at him, dozens of red retile dots all hovering inbetween his eyes. Pierce and Kinzie began heavy breathing as the rest of the Saints all froze in fright and anger, until the Boss rose up.

'This isn't even a discussion…We're not gangsters, or soldiers, or actors, or whatever we used to call ourselves; we're human beings. It is in our nature to protect and help others! If we all turn on each other in these dark times, then the dead will have already won. They'll have took our light. I'm not going to sit here, and let them take away our humanity. I'm reaching out to you kid, not as a gangster or any other guy with a gun; I'm reaching out to you as a guy in need. Do what's right; let us help our friend. Please.' The Boss declared, he rose up and stood in Keith's way to shield him from the line of fire, and pleaded for the humanity of those around him. The STAG Commando in front of him seemed touched by his words as he rose to stand next to him, as did the rest of the Saints. The guards however, were far from impressed.

'I needed to be sure…I needed to know who I was signing up with.' The young Commando reassured, before drawing out his Desert Eagle and firing it at the two guards on the catwalk, killing them instantly after their brains were blasted wide open and turned into spaghetti. 'Name's Jacob Monroe, I'm one of the men Kinzie and Oleg sent into STAG as an inside mole to keep track of STAG's activities. Oh, and I just saved your ass, your welcome.'

'Kinzie, Oleg…Thanks for keeping the rest of us in the loop.' Pierce moaned as Jacob began loosening all of the Saints' binds, he began rubbing his eyes relentlessly and kept scratching the sides of his head signalling he was suffering a headache. The Boss shook Jacob's hand for assisting the Saints, whilst Oleg gave Pierce a strong pat on the back that was enough to almost knock him over. No one in the room could resist from laughing at his embarrassment.

'Donnie, Kinzie, Pierce and Oleg, I want you guys down here keeping Troy alive with Jacob, and also try to find our weapons or look around the rest of the shuttle bay, see if there's any supplies. Everyone else, let's find that old fuck Cyrus and show him what we're made of.' The Boss ordered, Viola and Benjamin followed him up the stairway to the elevator along with Keith and Shaundi as they took the dead STAG guards' weapons, then began heading up to the Captain's Cabin. 'Jesus….What kind of plane is this?'

'One that feels like its moving…Be on your guard son.' Benjamin warned, the five of them were all cramped together in the elevator as the Boss pressed the buttons, and Shaundi and Viola were on the verge of another argument as they tried to push the other out of the way for room. Shaundi hadn't forgotten about Johnny's funeral, and Viola was going to be reminded about it.

**…**

The elevator doors opened wide, and the Saints were met by four Commandos all spread across the small bedroom, their guns firmly trained on each of the Saint survivors. The chilling silence in the room was interrupted by the sounds of a toilet flushing, and someone washing their hands. Shaundi and Viola looked around the room curiously as to where exactly it was coming from as Benjamin wriggled the collar on his shirt to breath better, and the Boss began holstering his rifle towards each of the four guards as Viola did the same. As Keith, Benjamin and Shaundi took cover in the elevator doors, the sounds of an old man obnoxiously whistling away echoed in the cabin, and a blackened door across the room next to the deluxe bed opened, revealing the Commander himself.

'Ah, Saint, I was wondering when you'd show up. Impressive helicarrier, isn't it? The Daedalus – a gigantic floating helicarrier capable of decimating cities within minutes. Up here, you wouldn't even know there's a zombie apocalypse ravaging the world. All your tax dollars at work, thank you kindly.' Cyrus sarcastically explained, he still dressed in his moss green armour, and he was still walking across the room with an obnoxious air around him that suggested he was in charge of everyone. The Boss was always happy to bring him back to reality.

'Never paid taxes myself. So Cyrus, how about you land this floating city, let us out and be on your way? You are the army after all – you should be trying to clean up this mess.' The Boss sneered, Cyrus turned his back to him and ruffled through the small desks next to the bed, and found his favourite revolver. He pushed back all the leftover pizza boxes and Freckle Bitches bags off his bed, and paid full attention to the Boss.

'A mess? That's how you see all this? I see it as a blessing. A perfect means to shake up the tyrannical reign of terror that we call our "governments". With them out of the way, the ordinary man can try to stand properly on his own two feet and live to his fullest. But it's lasted long enough; if it goes on it'll ravage humanity too much and kill us all. But rather than destroy them all, I see a means to control them. Control is the only way to survive in this world; controlling the Living Dead, controlling the New World Order…And even you, if necessary.' Cyrus preached, he squandered around the room loading his revolver scratching the growing stubble on his face, and rubbing his bloodshot eyes. Each of the guards began shaking their heads erratically at his words.

'And who'll control you?' Keith snapped, his voice alerted Cyrus to the presence of the others in the elevator, to which he gave an eerie snort. The guards' rifles began to tremble, and each of them began blinking uncontrollably as Cyrus took his seat at his office desk. 'Controlling five people will be a lot different to controlling the undead!'

'Oh…Have a little faith. I'm a humanitarian Mr. David, I'll do what I can to protect and strengthen humani-' Cyrus began to taunt, until each of his guards dropped their rifles as their fingers slipped off, and their jaws widened and clicked out of place. Their eyes became a pale blank blue whilst their lips began to burst with crimson red blood that splattered down onto their chins like juice.

Baam!

It was only a matter of seconds until the Boss and Viola fired entire clips of ammunition onto the turned soldiers, their lifeless bodies flopping to the ground like fish out of water, and their shrieks were enough to burst an eardrum. Cyrus stood at the back of the room, shocked by what he had witnessed. He had taken cover behind the bathroom door but had denied himself to shoot his own men, but once the gunfight was over, he ran across the entire room and brushed past each of the Saints like a gazelle. Benjamin headed over to one of the guards and crushed his windpipe with the heel of his loafer, then began supervising him to determine what had actually turned him into a zombie.

'No bite marks on any parts of his body…Whatever turned him into a zombie, has to have passed through his body. Either something he's breathed in, smelt, drank or…' Benjamin began, Shaundi reached her hand out to him to signal not to get too close to the dead in-case they tried to attack like with Johnny, but Benjamin knew how to handle himself. After examining the body and looking around the room, Benjamin struggled for words for what he believed. 'All I can smell on his breath is Freckle Bitches food…No, the food can't be tainted, can it?'

'You mean, like meat from a pig or a cow who had some sort of flu? Or something as bad as mad cow disease?' Viola bewildered, Shaundi and the Boss checked through each of the corpses to ensure they were all dead, and also the pockets for any supplies for extra ammo. They had no such luck, nor did Keith when he checked on the small laptop on Cyrus's desk. He couldn't figure out how to access any of his documents, other than an old photo of Cyrus and Kia together, though it did give Keith reason to smirk.

'Hold up…If they've all eaten it – They're all going to turn! We need to get back to the others, shit!' The Boss realised, he finished pacing around the room and led the Saints back into the elevator, with Keith almost stumbling over one of the guards' corpses as he wasn't properly listening to what the others were discussing. Now the Boss's and Benjamin's faces were flushed with fear; they were trapped in a floating helicarrier, with an entire army of the Living Dead.

**…**

As soon as they returned to the Shuttle Bay, the Saints were horrified at the ecstatically crazed zombie horde below them underneath the catwalk; there must have been almost a hundred of undead STAG commandos all frantically rushing across the room chasing each of the Saints, their horrid shrieks echoed throughout the entire room and sent shivers down everyone's spines. Pierce, Jacob, Kinzie and Donnie tried to take cover within one of the STAG Jeeps, however it was ineffective as the undead rocked the vehicle back and forth and smashed the windows with their flesh-torn arms, eager to eat. Kinzie and Donnie were panicking uncontrollably so much that they were oblivious as to how many there truly were around the jeep. Oleg meanwhile was charging across the entire room, knocking down horde after horde and squatting dozens of zombies with his fists as if they were just flies. He appeared unfazed by the outnumbering swarms.

'Saints – Take cover!' The Boss warned to his friends as he and Viola sprayed their entire clips of ammunition down onto the Shuttle Bay, and within seconds, bodies dropped down to the floor and their putrid blood squirted everywhere as if the entire area was just one oversized blender of flesh. Oleg leaped behind one of the two jeeps to take cover, whilst the majority of the zombies attacking the other jeep had been defeated.

'Fucking Cyrus, where did that bastard get to?' Shaundi growled, she followed the Boss and the others down the stairway to finish off the remainder of the undead as she flicked her fringe back, her model appearance decimated by the tense situation.

'Bastard must have gone up top to take a VTOL out of one of the other hangars, damn coward. Here's hoping he's become chow for those freaks.' Keith figured, the Boss was finishing off the few remaining zombies by butting the end of his rifle into their heads, with so much strength he was managing to tear their neck bones off completely. Benjamin tried to hide his disgust at the brutality.

'They'll be time for him later, right now we need to look at the casualties.' The Boss interrupted, he could care less for Cyrus's wellbeing. He first checked on Oleg who was knelt down against one of the jeeps, part of his purple jumper had been covered in blood whilst parts of his jacket had been torn off completely. 'Oleg, you okay? You're not hurt, are you?'

'Pfft, of course not. I have not felt so overwhelmed in a battleground like this for decades now! Just say the word, and I'll find us another battle with these weaklings, I'd hate to delay their demise anymore.' Oleg reassured, he was flexing his bulgy arms and licking his lips like a beast that's just caught its prey. As the Boss patted his knee, Keith moved towards the back of the group, his mind floating with concern for Oleg's superiority.

'Boss? Boss…It's not good news man…' Pierce called over, the Boss and Benjamin rushed over to him and pushed away the piles of bodies off the doors of the jeep so the occupants could escape. As Pierce and Jacob hurried out of the driver's and passenger's seats, the Boss surveyed the heartache in the back.

Kinzie burrowed her head underneath her arms and was reluctant to lift her face to accept the end of the trauma, her eyes pouring out rivers of tears and her nose snivelling away, and parts of her ginger hair locks had been pulled at and torn out, leaving one or two baldpatches to leave a painful memory. Next to her, Donnie sat panting as he stared at his arm stuck in the cracks of the window, shards of glass sticking out through the skin of his arm. At the end of his wrist was a gigantic inhumane bite mark, his veins had been torn and pulled apart like cutting up bread, and his fingers were covered in pale mustard yellow saliva. One the bloodied bone inbetween his wrist and fingers were what kept his hand together; just like the bone remains of a turkey leg.

'Donnie…No, no no no….Fuck man, a-are you?' The Boss mumbled, he tried to pull Donnie's hand out of the broken window, but stopped as soon as the young mechanic cried out like a dying trapped animal. Shaundi covered her mouth with her right hand, then turned her back so she didn't have to face yet another friend dying.

'I-I tried to step up…I really did…' Donnie whimpered, as soon as Kinzie lifted her face she froze up, until Donnie started jerking back and forth as he tried to slither his maimed hand off the window. A horrid thought engulfed the Boss's and Benjamin's mind as they glanced at each other for support, then looked down at Donnie as he sat searching for help. 'If there was any way…'

'You know what's got to be done son…' Benjamin reminded, the Boss's face dropped to the ground and his eyes closed shut on the world, whilst Donnie's lit up horrified and brighter than fireworks on the fourth of July. Keith and Shaundi were quickly appalled at what they were considering, whilst Jacob and Viola helped Kinzie out of the jeep. She ran straight into Oleg's arms for shielding.

'Guys…You don't want to see this. M-Make sure the decks are cleared, check around for Troy, I hid him next to one of the weapon lockers in the other room down here before all the undead came. It's got to be done…' Jacob warned, he tried to push Viola and Pierce through to the other room as Oleg silently agreed with his reasoning and carried Kinzie out of the room. Keith and Shaundi followed, dragging their cold feet across the ground to follow the others.

'I'm not sure I can…I'm a killer sure, but this? This just ain't right.' The Boss worried, he picked up one of the largest shards of broken glass off the ground and stared at his blank expression, hoping to just wake up any minute to be informed this life was all but a dream. Benjamin began biting his lower lip and clenched his fist, and took the shard out of his hand.

'No leader should have to do this to one of their own; give it to me. Close your eyes, turn around, and count to ten.' Benjamin decided, he moved over to the other side of the jeep door where Donnie was, offered a sympathetic look, and informed him to do the same as the Boss. Benjamin cowered slightly as he surveyed how thick the bloodied bone was; it may have looked as thin as a stick, but felt as thick as a tree log.

The Boss gave a calm almost collected nod to Donnie, turned away, and walked to the other side of the Shuttle Bay. He stood with his eyes closed, whispering the countdown to himself as the young mechanic cried out repeatedly. The Boss made the mistake of opening his eyes, and could only watch helplessly at Ben's gigantic shadow next to the car on the wall, that colossal shard of glass striking down onto the hand. The Boss felt weak and inexperienced, as if he was sitting watching a puppet show he had no control over, but it didn't stop him counting. He even counted past ten, all the way through the twenties, until he heard the thud.

But he could still hear his friend crying out for help.

* * *

**The next chapter will be up soon I've already written the first half of it; I wanted to include an interlude just to give everyone a sense of what this story is completely about and where it'll be going etc. It's also just to help me get back into the zone of this story lol.**

**Hit that review button below, and if you're another user, be sure to check out the Third Street Authors forum where other writers come together in the Review Cafe and meet to exchange reviews to help each other out. It's a fantastic goldmine that's helped a lot of users out, and can help out a lot more.**


	5. Interlude: The Daedalus

**New Saints Row 4 DLC Expansion announced - Gat out of Hell! Looks pretty awesome, and Dane Vogel's back; I wonder if judging from the trailer, he makes a deal to help the Saints in return for being brought back to life. Ah the plot thickens...**

**But anyway, here's the next chapter of SOLTD, an interlude to the story to bring everyone back up to pace, and also to just better develop my characters, namely my new OC. Bit boring here and there but I've changed the narrative style a bit so that there's more focus on dialogue. Hopefully it'll get evidently better in later chapters. Just wondering as well; should I change the rating of this story, since there isn't so much graphical gore? Leave your thoughts below;**

* * *

**12 Hours Later…**

Jacob strode through the darkened corridors of the Daedalus' Deck Two, accompanied by a disgruntled cadre of Saint goons, all covered in the blood of their loved ones. To show his new-found allegiance, Jacob was wearing a black tank-top with white and purple tracksuit pants, and was swaggering around the corridor with a Carbine Rifle, eager to prove to the goons who was in charge.

'Set one of those lamps up in that corner, next to the camera on the ceiling. And you – set one up there, just above the main doors to the Conference Room!' Jacob ordered, he was pointing to the areas with his rifle where he wanted each of the goons to place an electric lamp upon to bring light back to the gloomy abandoned helicarrier, however they were less than thrilled to be talked down to by a stranger.

'We just got rounded up by a bunch of cops and brought to this stinkin' floating prison – after leaving our dead families and friends behind in the Row without giving them a proper burial – and now we're taking orders from an uppity STAG bitch like you? Our place is down there, not up here; why should we listen to you?' One of the goons asked, Jacob turned around and was met by a thirty-five year old six foot five aggressive man, his looming enflamed eyes glaring down at the smaller man before him.

The goon began pumping his chest out and pretended to rest his arm on the young boy's head, which encouraged all of the other Saints to chuckle. They were swiftly interrupted by the sounds of one of the slide-doors behind them down the corridor opening, and they all froze as they saw a tall shadowy man staring them down. The only light bulb in the room flickered on and off as he headed towards them, each footstep sounding like a powerful thud on the weak floorboards. He may have been five feet away from them, but the Saints could smell their leader's whisky breath.

'Because _I'm_ ordering you all to listen to him. The time for burials and memorials will come later my friends. Right now, we have to go on the offensive, uncover the truth behind this outbreak and save thousands rather than a few hundred. Understand?' The Boss sneered, he stared down at the taller goon in front of Jacob and simply folded his arms, then raised his eyebrows and mumbled a low growl. It was enough for the upstart in front of him to listen and place one of the electric lamps up above the other slide door, bringing a crystal blue light to the room.

'I was handling it Commander, you don't need to babysit me sir...' Jacob groaned, the group of Saints took no notice of him as the Boss marched ahead for the end of the corridor, and with sheer force, ripped open the slide door to the Conference Room. He scoffed his nostrils then wiped the flem on his sleeves, then pointed for his Saints where to place lamps in the room.

'And you don't need to prove yourself to me. I've already got a one-handed man in the medical bay being treated for trying to fight off a goddamn Zombie army, I don't need anymore.' The Boss answered, he placed his hands on Jacob's shoulders and looked through his chestnut brown eyes, seeing his reflection in the young boy, and then finished his peace. 'Now this…This is perfect.'

The Conference Room appeared to have been the size of a gigantic hallway; in the centre of the room was a round table that was almost the size of an entire school classroom, and in every corners of the room were small plasma TVs fitted to the wall, reporting the same news broadcasts over and over. The architecture of the room also amazed the Boss; the room was uplifted with statues that acted as support columns, all taking the appearance of Uncle Sam standing in all of his glory.

As each light lit up the room, the Boss and Jacob stood together, both feeling as if they were at a conference with the United Nations at Washington DC. It was a glorious powerful feeling, that distracted them long enough from their burning hunger, their troubled lives, and their looming deaths. The Boss headed over to the tallest chair of the table, fitted with Cyrus's initials, and wiped the dust away before taking a seat, swinging his feet up on one of the chair's arms and relaxing peacefully as he stared at the ceiling.

'Don't you want to check out the rest of the decks, see if there are any more Walkers we need to take out?' Jacob bewildered, he stood feeling confused as he watched each of the Saints draw out spray cans and began spraying Fleur-De-Lis symbols over all of the STAG emblems on the wall, each of them running back and forth across the room to cover every last trace of STAG.

'Actually, I want to use this time to get to know you better. I called the rest of the Saints to meet us here for a discussion on what to do next. Until they get here, I feel I should figure out my newest recruit.' The Boss explained, he pointed to the chair next to him for Jacob to sit on, however the man simply folded his arms and remained where he stood.

'I'm not sure there's anything you need to know, if it's all the same with you. I can fight, and I'm with you guys now 'till I die.' Jacob responded, the Boss simply sighed at him and began counting spider webs across the room.

'If there is one thing I've learnt over the years, it is that guys cannot fight alongside each other and live, if they don't trust each other. Kinzie filled me in about you; you're only a sixteen year old kid, you haven't been training in the Marines for years before transferring to STAG as your file said. All else it said was that your from Stilwater. So…Help me out here and we can help each other out, if you get me?' The Boss explained, he began trying to spin the chair juvenilely as Jacob's jaw widened, surprised at how informed he was.

'Okay…My name is Jacob Monroe. My parents abandoned me when I was a baby, and I passed through orphanage after orphanage for most of my life, until Stilwater Chief of Police Richard Monroe took me in when I was twelve. I know you killed him.' Jacob revealed, the Boss finally stopped jerking his chair and stared down to the ground with fright at what he was hearing, until he faced the young man. 'But I'm glad you did it. Back when I was growing up, everyone always asked him questions, about how a single white man could just deliver a young unwanted black kid out of thin air. That and his work always pushed him, and as soon as he became an alcoholic corrupt bastard, he used to beat me for his failures. Even today, when I close my eyes, sometimes I can still see him, looking down at me with that belt…But then I lie there wondering how much pain he was in when you shot a rocket at him, and then I get to sleep at night.'

'I'm ah…Sorry for all of that. I never realised Monroe was that much of an asshole. So, why join up with STAG? Why not just join the army or the marines?' The Boss thought aloud, he was silently stunned at how cold and unfazed Jacob was at the outburst, finally straightening himself up on the chair. The silence between the two was broken by one of the goons tripping over one of the cables, and then the rest of the Saints could be heard trying to install speaker-phones across the whole area.

'The one thing that always ate Monroe up was street gangs. He'd spend every night, trying to pull other kids in every night for vandalism or stealing a bottle of vodka, but by the end of it, his superiors would permit their bail because there was never enough proof, and because they never cared. Every day he'd go out, and say to me 'I'll show you an example, I will!' but he never would. So he made one out of me. I vowed to do what he couldn't do, to prove to him I was better than him in every way that matters, by signing up with STAG and taking down gang warfare.' Jacob continued, he was now pacing around the table with his face hidden from the Boss's perception. Their first step to complete trust wasn't working well.

'And now you're working with the biggest street gang empire in the world…That puts things in perspective huh? Well, I appreciate your honesty, but I hope you realise in time we're not like most street gangs. I see myself as a shepherd, bringing people together in dire times to help each other…Like a family. I've always had that problem, never knew why…' The Boss almost sarcastically chimed, Jacob finally took his seat next to the Boss and placed his feet upon the table, until the Boss glared him down to remind him whose table it was, and where his manners. Finally, the rest of the Saints arrived. 'Finally, the family's all here!'

'Family? Never saw you as the _Big Daddy_ type.' Shaundi joked, it was enough to draw a few laughs from Keith and Pierce until the Boss's smile dropped as his point wasn't backed up. They recognised the awkwardness in the air and eagerly took their seats, Kinzie remaining quieter than usual and hiding next to Oleg, who simply placed one of his oversized boots on the chair rather than sitting down. Keith looked unamused by the sheer arrogant superiority, as he took an unwanted place next to him.

'Alright everyone, listen up cause we've got some serious shit to discuss. Yeah, we've seen what was out there, what was in here, and we can make a good guess what else we're going to find. It's not going to be pretty, I'll be honest about that. It's only going to get bloodier, which is why in these times, we need to be more united than ever, and we need to protect our own more than ever. That is why, I want to use the Daedalus to wipe out all the undead in Stilwater, and make it a safe zone again. It may take a couple of weeks, bu-' The Boss began, the blueish light shone directly behind him to create a holy image, however the Saints weren't at all happy with his decision.

'We're not going to be able to find a cure for those things in Stilwater!' Keith argued, the Boss began rubbing his chin and tried to hide his frown with his hand. 'We can't just annihilate a whole populace with this thing – if we manufacture a cure, we could save them, and turn them all back into people. Those are people some of you will know, that you'll care about. You really want to just push a button and watch a missile blow them all to pieces?'

'Do what you want with the people below, it is not one of my personal priorities right now.' Oleg hissed, he rested his arms on his knee as he made his declaration, with Keith scoffing at his lack of empathy. 'My people will be dying in the old country; they need soldiers like me now more than ever. I must make my return, and restore the old order that was given up for the capitalist west. If you are all going to sit up here in your fortress saving your loved ones, why can't I do the same?'

'Keith's right, if we really want to save as many people as possible across the whole world, we need to shut down everything that created this whole mess in the first place.' The Boss ordered, he began pumping out his chest and banged his fist on the table to show he meant business, then shook it in the air as it throbbed with pain, causing a few laughs. 'So uh…Anyone got any good ideas where to start?'

'Mousy one, we must tell them now what we have uncovered…' Oleg pressured, nudging the small hacker next to him who remained incredibly still, even with his humongous elbow hitting her in the chest. Her lips remained incredibly still, but her eyes maintained the heightened fright the Boss saw in the jeep. 'It is alright, the Walkers are gone now.'

'As soon as we took up shop on this Godsend of a floating city, Oleg and I headed down to the tech labs to research your hunches on the Freckle Bitches' meat being tainted. We tried to hack into their international company accounts, which didn't really work because even STAG don't have the good enough resources to do that. So, we had a look at all the CCTV of their local restaurants in Stilwater. We noticed that at every time every Friday night, an Ultor convoy would pull up and deliver the meat. We traced the licenses plates throughout the city, then we found they came in through plane….And then after a couple of hours we traced all these couriers coming in from Mexico.' Kinzie fully explained, Shaundi had to nudge Pierce a few times to get him from resting his eyes to sleep, before Oleg could give him another intimidating glare.

'Mexico? The Ultor-guarded farms there must only give the meat to Freckle Bitches exclusively then. The rural agriculture in Mexico isn't as big as in places like America or China after all.' Benjamin queried, he tried offering hope as Keith and Jacob nodded with his rationality.

'Actually, the farmland we traced is huge, the entire complex is almost as big as a small city, and the Ultor couriers have been delivering the meat to other fast food joints – Mcdonalds, Burger King, and then smaller takeouts like diners and taverns. These are all places worldwide – America, Mexico, Japan, England, those are just a few of the places we've traced.' Kinzie warned, the group fell silent at the revelation; a few of the Saint goons in the back dropped their spray canisters at the news and hurried out, disgruntled at the shock.

'Well, if this is the news we hear, then that's how it is. If these Ultor fuckers are getting the meat from this farm compound, we need to shut it down. Burn it down if we have to.' The Boss decided, he was hoping for a slight cheer even from those as loyal as Pierce and Shaundi, however it was obvious they were all psychologically scarred to an extent. 'Whatever you guys want to do – protect yourselves, your loved ones, or go off somewhere and fight – don't let me hold you back. If you feel your place isn't here, then fine. I know I always asked you all to fight in places like Steelport before, but what we were going up against was nothing like this.'

'I've spent nearly fifty years in Stilwater, but even I know staying there is a _dumb idea_.' Benjamin reassured, the whole group shifted their attention to him in surprise as the Boss grinned at his support. 'Besides, leaving Stilwater doesn't mean we're abandoning them. We can give Chief Bradshaw some VTOLS for his men, warn him about the tainted meat, and wherever we go we can send more help back here.'

'With our help, Stilwater could perhaps become the best – and perhaps only – Quarantine zone in the Western Hemisphere. We can send food and medical supplies, weapons, armour, anything really that'll give the people a fighting chance at survival. Shit, we can do these guys.' Pierce chuckled, he sat rocking his chair back and forth discussing war tactics as if he was the modern Napoleon, until he almost fell off it.

'You do realise though when we do get new food coming in, you won't ever be able to trust processed food ever again right? It'll just be home-grown fruit and vegetables for you, sure you're ready for this Pierce?' Shaundi sniggered, now the whole group burst into laughter at the joke, even Kinzie couldn't resist laughing despite her traumatised state. The Boss was relieved; his surrogate family was getting their act together, and Jacob was finally noticing it.

'Alright, when we're done here, have a look around, make yourselves at home and start getting ready. Don't go too far, this is a big ass floating city after all. It's our time now, let's get this shit started.' The Boss cheered, he rose up from his chair and dismissed the crew, Pierce and Kinzie were tempted to explore the whole helicarrier as if they were kids in an ice-cream parlour, but they knew what they had to do first. They all did; they had to ready up.

**…**

The Boss hurried anxiously throughout the War Room section of the ship, Viola and Jacob guiding him through the dusky room as all the recruits around them began loading themselves with STAG weapons. Jacob had informed the Boss that the War Room was the tactical revision centre of the Daedalus; in the centre was a gigantic holographic table that displayed dozens of miniature health and death-skulls icons across the entire United States of America, symbolising Cyrus's future plans of warfare. Every other nation on the floating map were jet-black; obviously Cyrus was too patriotic and proud to offer help to non-Americans.

'This area is the War Room, Commander, where you can review all of the war assets you've gained during your journey and look at which areas of the world require the most support, and also to review what the next logical step is to help Stilwater. The transmission hub is this way, Chief Bradshaw is on the other line for you.' Jacob explained, the whole area was shaped like a circular arena with dozens of miniature computer panels attached to the walls, but the trio simply strode past the table and headed straight for the transmission room.

'Since when did you start calling yourself the Commander?' Viola queried, she picked up on Jacob's repeated explanations that he had often given to Cyrus, which gave him reason to stand mighty and grin away. 'Not sure I see you as the Commander type…'

'Call me whatever you want, just remember who's in charge.' The Boss reassured, Jacob's face remained unfazed at his orders, he opened up the door to the transmission room as Viola stylishly flicked her hair backwards. Inside was a small amplifier of sorts in the corner of the room, which somehow digitally created a hologram of Troy. 'Troy? How am I talking to you man?'

'Each VTOL upon the Daedalus have all been fitted with these hologram communicators by STAG. I'm standing in one right now with a couple of other Saints we found captured by STAG up there with you, but ah…Well things aren't fantastic. After I woke up in Jacob's medical bay on your floating city, I took one of these VTOLS and flew down to your hideout. We've cleared the Hideout out…But no more survivors. Just…Bodies.' Troy answered, the Boss hid his dismay by scratching restlessly at his eyes, then returned his attention to the hologram.

'They'll be some out there, if you're so set on staying in Stilwater and wiping the Walkers out, you'll have to lead the resistance-' The Boss began, Jacob and Viola could see that even on the hologram, Troy was visibly getting more enraged as he threw his cigarette out of his mouth and onto the ground.

'Then I need support from your people – I need survivors, food and medical supplies, more vehicles, more intel on what we need to be on the look-out for – Goddamnit, anything that can keep us alive for another second! You've got the best chance of survival – help the rest of us out however you can.' Troy barked, even in holographic form, he was incredibly intimidating. The Boss knew when to back down.

'I hear you Troy, we'll get it done. We'll find survivors wherever we go, we'll do what we can and we'll try to send stuff back for you. I promise you Troy; we will not forget you.' The Boss swore, Troy lifted his face up with delight as Jacob lifted an eyebrow at the high expectations the Boss was giving.

'And above all else, always be on your guard. That assassin bitch Dex had with him meant business; who knows how many other people he'll have with him. Do well not to trust _anyone_ who could be involved in all of this. Look after your own too; I don't think I need to remind you losing people is hard. Losing Ramirez and Vasquez back on that plane…Well, for some people, it makes them break. But for us…'

'It just hardens us up.' The Boss finished, Troy gave an unwavering smirk and nodded, Viola stood in the background, almost shivering at the lack of compassion between the two on the topic. 'Good luck Troy.'

'You too playa, and when all this is done, do me a favour and tell me your real damn name? I feel like an old mafia Don calling you that. Good luck you guys.' Troy laughed, Viola pouted in agreement at the awkwardness of not knowing the Boss's name, whilst Jacob took a few seconds to realise how secretive the Boss was. Troy gave a final wave, and turned off his communicator.

'While you're here Commander, you also received two other calls. The first, is from a friend of yours named Eric Gryphon.' Jacob informed, the Boss was heading out of the doorway before he began getting teary-eyed, the brighter pale blue lights in the other room blistering upon him.

'I'm surprised someone like Gryphon is alive. Why would he call us though, he was just your PR guy, right? And how the hell did he get access to one of these communicator things anyway?' Viola bewildered, her words rumbled Jacob's mind like multiple earthquakes coming after each other, however the Boss remained calm and activated the next call on the communicator anyway.

The holographic communicator began to crackle slightly, before it displayed the fairly short burly man; his entire double-breasted grey suit was in tatters and covered in blood, his hair was frazzled and drenched in his own sweat, and the flapping of his double chins like a seagull's mouth suggested he was reaching to vomit. He was hunched back and clutching his left rib, his hands also covered in a dry blood that wasn't dripping. The Boss stood amazed at the state he was in, though Viola and Jacob were visibly hostile as they both crossed their arms, questioning the purpose of the call.

'Saints, glad you answered the call. I'm in DC right now, and the place has just been torn to pieces. Originally I was in Stilwater boarding a flight out of the city, but as soon as I got on the plane, I heard the news about the outbreak. STAG laid their foundations in this city, and most of them were flying back off to Stilwater, but I managed to knock out one of the guards and took his VTOL. I began making calls and putting things in place, gathering intel on Ultor activities, and this is definitely the work of our old friend Dex. He came out of hiding a month ago and began requesting more men for his Masako faction of the Ultor Corporation; most people didn't listen to him, but a few were gullible enough to follow him. I had his bank account transactions tracked since then; all he's been doing is buying weapons and emergency supplies, there is no doubt he knew this was coming.' Gryphon warned, his eyes wavered back and forth between the three Saints in front of him, and his lungs exhaling restlessly. The Boss grew curious at his intel.

'We believe Dex is on the move across the world to cover his tracks. If he is behind this apocalypse, he'll be cleaning house, getting rid of all his trails. We believe that he may be behind Ultor contamination of all meat products from fast food restaurants across the globe; the meat must come from a diseased animal and affects a person's rationality. The facility where the Ultor couriers end is in Mexico somewhere. We'll find him there.' The Boss informed, Gryphon's eyes finally fixated on him alone as his fidgeting hands tucked into his pants pockets, and he began giving out an observant pout.

'That sounds like Dex is heading to the Solar Farm in _La Paz_ then; it's the biggest, most funded and has the most couriers transporting food and back. A decade or two ago Ultor used it to investigate pharmaceutical use in biochemical warfare across the nation, but the managers in charge of it shut it down and burnt all findings. Since then, it's been mostly abandoned and run down, but a few members of Ultor have used it as a place to store…Special goods.' Gryphon let slip, Viola sighed in disbelief at the arrogance of the Ultor Corporation whilst the Boss tried to brush it aside as best as he could.

'So those special goods were probably what's started all this shit in the first place…Great. Well, that's where we're headed. You should get to shelter Gryphon, first chance you get a plane you should come back to Stilwater. Chief Bradshaw is leading a resistance in the city that'll wipe out the Walkers, and it may end up the only safe zone in the whole of the United States.' The Boss suggested, Gryphon remained as intrigued as ever on the Boss's words, then after hearing what he wanted to know, wiped the sweat on his flabby cheeks away.

'I'll do what I can, thanks Saints, and uh…Take care.' Gryphon finished, incredibly awkwardly, turning his back swiftly and ending the call. The Boss looked to Jacob, expecting to have one more transmission.

'The final call is uh…From previous Commander, Cyrus Temple. He did escape in one of our VTOLS, and we have been trying to track him, but he must have gotten his hands on some sort of jammer. We'll try to pinpoint his location as you communicate with him.' Jacob explained, he began tapping away on the small control panel as the 58 year old man's holographic image appeared before the Saints. He looked incredibly disgruntled, covered in blood and torn flesh, but angrier than ever.

'I underestimated you Saint. Twice now. It will not happen again. You've killed my second in command, humiliated me, killed my crew and now you've took MY SHIP!? I was trying to figure out this damn mess and save thousands if not millions of lives – and now you've doomed us all you cocky little shit!' Cyrus flared, he was flipping his bony middle finger at the Boss and pretending to spit in front of him, however the Boss remained as _amused_ as ever when it came to Cyrus.

'Thought you said it was wrong to call all this a mess? I'll be the one to save the millions of lives; you'd end up being the one who'd control them all on a pedestal. Don't worry about your ship Cyrus, it's in good hands, and if we ever get bored of it, I'm sure we'll have good fun ploughing it into a big skyscraper or some shit.' The Boss laughed, Cyrus simply growled beastly at his words, pacing back and forth to lose his temper.

'I've still got one personal plane of mine working, and that's all I need to follow you wherever you go. The second you're off your guard – BOOM! I'll blast you down into the bottom of the fucking ocean you jumped up little turd! See you soon, Saints.' Cyrus warned, he arrogantly gargled salivia down his throat and spluttered at the end of his taunt, causing Viola to tut at his demeanor. Cyrus then proceeded to shun the group away and ended the transmission.

'Why is it every man I've ever met an ill-mannered pig?' Viola moaned, Jacob turned and stared at her blankly, raising his hands as if to question what he had done wrong, pumping his chest out underneath his thin black tank-top.

'Cause you never gave a hard look at the man right in front of you _Vi_.' The Boss teased, Viola looked up at him and raised her eyebrow, trying incredibly hard not to blush, whilst Jacob just threw his hands into the air in defeat and exited the War Room. 'Well, it's been a long ass day, best get some sleep for now, it's not like we're going to find the bogeyman underneath our beds after all.'

'Y'know what, I think with present conditions and all, I'm not going to take the chance. I'm hitting the bar, come find me if you need me 'Commander'.' Viola joked, she headed out of the transmission room after Jacob as the Boss simply stared back smirking, then looked back to the communication device, remembering the warring advice he received from the three men.

**…**

The Boss sat on the edge of the double-deluxe bed in the Captain's Cabin, staring down tiresomely at his small silver locket, repeatedly opening it and closing it, hoping to sense another flash of his past life. He was uncomfortable with the prospect of sleeping in an old man's bed, but given it was either that or sleeping on the cold merciless floor, he wasn't going to argue with himself. He heard someone come up to the top floor of the Daedalus to meet him, and found Benjamin by his door, wanting to talk to him.

'You're not asleep? Good, I've been wanting to talk to you alone where the others aren't around.' Benjamin began, the Boss opened the slide-door completely and raised his arm to welcome him in, trying to knock the pizza boxes off the one computer chair. 'I've been worried about how you've been. Stabbing Vido in the balls? Walking towards a bunch of STAG guards and taunting them to shoot you? All the needless danger you've been putting yourself in? I know you've been extreme before, but you haven't been stupid like this before. What's gotten into you?'

'It's these flashes that I'm getting…I've had this locket thing for as long as I know. I don't know where I'm from properly or who I am; all I remember is one day just waking up on a hospital bed when I was 16, and being covered in ash and blood. The doc' gave me my wallet, which just had five dollars in, a scrap piece of paper with the number '3131' on it…And this stupid locket. There's a picture of me and some kid in there…But when I met Dex, he called me Noah. He knew my name, and I got all these flashes since touching this locket. But why now?'

Benjamin gazed at the small silver locket after the Boss handed it to him, weighing it as he took a long deep stare onto the picture, a half torn photo which only showed the Boss clutching a baby, in-between two other people whose faces were no longer visible. He began biting his lower lip and sighing deeply to himself, then remained _silent_ and handed it back to the Boss, disappointed he could not offer any substantial ground-breaking advice.

'We'll find the answers…We will. Till then, shake off whatever Dex said to you, and keep your mind focus on your people. I know it's hard, but now's not the time to let personal history and relationships cloud your judgment. That goes for the past, and the future son.' Benjamin reluctantly reminded, he patted the Boss on the shoulder and exited the room, a blackened clock in the corner noisily ticking away alongside the sounds of the Boss flopping backwards on the bed, his arms spiralling across the quilt and his reddened eyes sweeping away.

* * *

**The next chapter will up soon, I'm changing the narrative to something a bit like this, but better in terms of more dialogue and less pointless detail inbetween it all. I think I might extend the word count too so I can get through more scenes and build my characters up more, without having to rely on unnecessary chapters like this. Be sure to leave a review below, and hit the Third Street Authors forum to cash in on the Review Cafe, a place to help every author on here with every one of their stories, both ones that are and aren't related to Saints Row. **


End file.
